The Panem Murder Mystery Games
by Libra King
Summary: Tensions have never been higher in Panem. To deceive the Districts, President Archking plans to 'cancel' the Hunger Games and replace them with the Illusion Games. One tribute has to slowly murder his competitors by killing them one by one. The other innocent tributes have to figure out who this murderer may be, before they are murdered themselves. (SYOT Open: 12/28)


**Evelyn Tarreras**

I've always found it odd how I've never seen snow in my life, despite the fact I've travelled all over the nation. I could have always went to one of those snow gardens in the Capitol, where artificial snow falls all year long, but I've just never had the time.

Seeing the snow fall down is oddly...calming. Chills travel down my spine, as I feel the brisk cold wind brushing against my face. I understand why the Victor's Village of 1 is nicknamed the Angel's Haven, after the long forgotten religion of the Old Ones. Apparently an angel was a peaceful being, a being that only knows good and no evil. Or that's what the old books said. The books that are only allowed to be read by Head Gamemakers, to receive inspiration for the next arena. They're always so dusty and worn out. It makes me sneeze whenever I read them, but they're really interesting to see what the Old Ones would think and what they're traditions were.

It's so silent here, I'm not used to the quiet. The Capitol is always busy and loud...not how I like it. Everything here seems...pure. The rows of fancy flowers laced by snow and the sweet smells of perfume bring smiles to my face, something that feels weird, seeing as my face is so numb.

I feel a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I see the ever so charming Victor from 1, Nouveau Yan, who won the 204th Games, 21 years ago. He's my personal tour guide in District 1, so I can see every part of it. Or importantly, the best parts. Of

course, we also have a small drone that's following us, tracking our every move and listening to everything we say. While some may be annoyed by it, I've grown accustomed to it and think of it as my own personal pet.

Nouveau looks somewhat angelic. Everything about him looks so...perfect. His perfectly combed over golden yellow hair, his bright blue almond shaped eyes, the clean looking scar which goes down from his right cheek to chin, which makes him look even rugged and tougher. He even looks charming and friendly. Of course, all of this was enhanced by surgery that he received in the Capitol…

"So...have you enjoyed your tour?" Nouveau asks me, trying to sound charming. He sounds slightly creepy though.

I nod, thinking back to what I've seen. "It's been wonderful seeing everything. My favourite place was the Silksworth Gallery. It was interesting seeing all the paintings that the Capitol...err...rejected. They were still beautiful though!"

"You have good taste, my dear. My fiancé loves the gallery, she's an aspiring artist, as you should know." Nouveau chuckled. His fiancé was another Victor, Ochre, who won five years after him. Ochre is an aspiring painter and sculptor, and she is absolutely phenomenal at her work. I still find it somewhat creepy that Nouveau is acting all flirty in front of me, especially seeing as he's engaged.

"Oh yeah, didn't she tell us about her artwork in the interviews?" I ask him and he nodded, showing me a big toothy smile.

"Yeah. Ochre practiced her interview lines in front of me. I could repeat them line by line. I will never forget them." Nouveau sighs in happiness. It's clear he really does love her, even though he appears weirdly flirty towards me. Seconds passed of awkward silence, neither of us not knowing what to say.

"Well, I think my tour here is done then. I've seen all I need to see…" I tell him, wanting to go back to the train to the Capitol as soon as possible. I get some funny looks here. I don't particularly feel safe here. Especially when I saw the poorer side of the District, who glared at me and made cruel remarks about me rather loudly. I felt as if they would attack me at any moment.

Perhaps it's because of my bright wig, that is split in half, one side being a bright cyan and the other one being a hot pink. It's poofy like an afro. Or maybe it's my outfit, which is a tight spandex outfit, yet again pink and cyan. I'm wearing contact lenses and I've been practically drowned in makeup. I don't particularly like this odd costume I've been given, but I don't get a choice on what I wear. President Archking has ordered me to wear this, as he wants to alienate the Capitol from the Districts as much as possible.

"Really? That was quick. There's a lot of...fun places I need to show you still. You still haven't seen the best tavern in town" He says, smacking his lips in the most uncomforting way possible. I take my previous statement back, how does he has a fiancé? I guess his looks did take him far.

'Tavern?" I ask, confused.

"Pub. Bar. Place where you get all the alcohol. It's a Victor's favourite." He says, wiggling his eyebrows slightly.

I give a fake awkward chuckle. "Oh, I really can't be drinking on the job…"

"You sure? They do some very refreshing cocktails." He tries to persuade me even more, though I am still not convinced. I'm not the biggest fan of alcohol. I don't want to be out of my comfort zone even more. This outfit has already made me feel awkward enough.

"No, no, I really must go." I tell him, as I look at my diamond encrusted watch. It's almost nine, the time I have to get back to the train by. I didn't even notice how dark it had gotten. In the sky are many distant twinkling stars, something we never see in the Capitol due to the light pollution. They're...beautiful.

"If you say so. You wouldn't want to disobey the President." Nouveau says, as he eyes the little drone which is hovering above my shoulder now.

Still looking to the beautiful stars, I tell him, "I would never even think of it."

* * *

**On the train**

I wonder if this is what the Tributes feel like. After spending a day in a poorer District, having a lavish luxury bedroom feels slightly odd. Last night, I was sleeping in a poor inn in the slums of District One, but now I'm sleeping in a bed that was the same size as the inn room.

Trying not to fall over in my high heels on an extremely fast moving train, I grab that pathetic wig and throw it onto the floor. I strip out of that horrible outfit and put on a more practical black skirt and white button up shirt. I feel so much happier wearing this, instead of that strange spandex outfit.

I fall onto the large queen size bed, bouncing on the comfortable bed, drowning my face in the pillow. I don't want to get up. I just want to fall asleep on the silky duvet, dreaming stress free dreams, but alas, I can not.

Urgh...there is that annoying ringing noise that I've been dreading. Rather quickly, I pick myself up off my beloved bed and walk over to the Holographer on the other side of the room. I mindlessly press the green button, watching as the realistic looking face pops up.

President Cyrus Archking is sitting on my desk, right in front of me, looking as serious as ever. He has to refrain from smiling in front of me. He worries that anyone may be able to spy on him at any time, or hack into this transmission and watch everything he's saying and doing. He believes showing too much emotion can give away too much info.

I just think he's being too suspicious, when he doesn't need to be. The Capitol love him.

"Greetings Miss Tarreras." He says, in his boring monotone voice. He was so much nicer and expressive before he became the President. I remember working with him many years ago. "How has the mission been going so far?"

"It's been going well, Mr Archking. I've definitely found out enough information about the Districts. The nationwide tour has brought me a lot of inspiration and information. The Arena will turn out very well." I tell him, reassuring him. Cyrus shows a faint smile to this. His teeth have been whitened by products and straightened by braces. He looks fairly normal for a Capitol Citizen, apart from having gelled straight black hair in a man bun. He has no tattoos, no make up, no surgery at all.

"Good. We need the arena to be as detailed as possible. The tributes need to be able to live in the arena. The games will be very different this year." Cyrus says, not telling me the full details.

"But why?" I ask him, extremely curious. "Why do they need to be able to live there? Won't they kill each other before any of the supplies are used up?"

Cyrus looks straight into my eyes, sending shivers down my spine. His empty eyes do not have any emotion, neither does his face. "The Games aren't following...the same formula this year."

"Formula? Do you mean there'll be...rule changes?" I ask him, not too sure on what he's hinting at. He slightly nods, not changing his serious expression. "Will they be major?"

He slightly nods once more. "I'll send you the full report…"

I nod, before realising something. "Wait...on what?" Cyrus doesn't answer my question, instead he blankly stares at me. It looks as if he has frozen his Holographer, he isn't even blinking.

I tap my feet for a while, wanting the time to pass quicker. All of a sudden, I hear a small whirring noise buzzing above me. Looking above my head, I see a similar drone to the one I saw before, though it's bigger and is travelling a lot faster. It perches itself down on my shoulder, before dropping an envelope on the floor.

About seven slips of paper are stapled together, the first page having a huge red confidential stamped on it.

I read the first page:

_The newly established Murder Mystery Games (Title Pending) will majorly change the modern formula of the Hunger Games. In the nation of Panem, tensions have become an all time high. We have decided that the Hunger Games are the main reasons why the Districts are rebelling. We still need to punish the citizens, but we need to quiet them down for a while._

_The Capitol have also been complaining about how the Hunger Games have recently been lowering in quality and that we need a brand new change to help make the Hunger Games great again._

_To satisfy both parties, we have decided that the best idea would be to take a break from the Hunger Games. Instead, we will have a new Games, which will be done in secret. Two teenagers will still be kidnapped from the 13 Districts, in a typical Reaping. However, this won't be done in public and the teenagers will be written down as missing. _

_If we deceive the Districts and make them believe that there are no death games going on, they will surely quieten down. We plan to lower labour quotas and taxes for the rent to create the true illusion that we are becoming more sympathetic. In truth, there will be no change._

_The Capitol will still want their entertainment, so the games will only be broadcasted to the City. However, as another act of 'sympathy' to the Districts, the Capitol will also be forced to supply two tributes._

_There will be no pre-game events. As soon as the 28 tributes have been chosen, they will be placed into an arena. However, they will not be killing each other straight away. They will build a society and get along. Some time in, a secret murderer will be unveiled. That murderer has to slowly whittle down the competition but murdering the other tributes, one by one. They have to do this all without being caught._

_It's the 27 other tributes to figure out who the murderer is. Once they do, they are free to leave the arena, effectively winning the Games. The murderer simply needs to kill all 27 tributes to escape. We plan to affect their mind by intense hijacking, to make them eager to kill._

_Once the games are done, we plan to unveil the games to Panem, though we will edit it to make it look like the tributes are enjoying their time in the arena and that the murderer is a Capitolite, so there is no District betrayal. We have not decided whether the murderer will actually be a Capitolite or not. We believe this is a better alternative._

_If the Capitol enjoy it, it'll replace the Hunger Games. If not, the Hunger Games will be put into full force again._

Oh my...can this really be true? I won't be designing an arena for the Hunger Games, instead for a different game? This seems so strange...226 games have gone by and they're only deciding to change the formula now? I can't comprehend that this may truly be happening. But the pieces start to fit together now. It makes much more sense now on why he decided to send me around Panem for inspiration.

"Do you like it?" Cyrus asks, in a monotone manner.

"I think it's wonderful." I simply reply, unsure on how I truly feel.

* * *

**Welcome to my SYOT! As you could probably tell, this is not an ordinary Hunger Games. It will follow the Murder Mystery format. If you decided to skip the prologue, the explanation on how this works is literally a few lines up. It's the block of text in italics. I don't want to type it again here, as it's a lot of the same information just being repeated.**

**Hopefully the premise pulls you in and you decide to submit. Some of the spots have already been taken:**

District 1: Aeliana Servia (That one ace popsicle stick) and Male

District 2: Karishma Bakshi (Lord Shiro) and Male

District 3: Camilla Katayun (AlexFalTon) and Male

District 4: Aphiel Nishia (Apple1230) and Male

District 5: Saoirse Cross (R.J Lupin) and Male

District 6: Trixie Holler (Annabeth Pie) and Male

District 7: Female and Male

District 8: Female and Agnar 'Ags' Bergsson (AlexFalTon)

District 9: Female and Male

District 10: Female and Male

District 11: Female and Terence Tomlins (its-Suzuka)

District 12: Female and Male

District 13: Ophelia Kratos (TheReaper94) and Jin-ai Kim (S.H Reke)

Capitol: Mireya Mendolia (its-Suzuka) and Night Channing (Apple1230)

**There's still plenty of spots left however! If you are submitting, there's also a few rules you need to follow!**

Just a few things first:

Please no Mary Sues or Gary Stus. No one likes to read a perfect character. Your tribute will need flaws and weaknesses.

Please do not send tributes from other stories. I don't mind if their original story is dead, cancelled or hasn't been worked on a for a while. I don't want to check another Hunger Games SYOT and see the exact same tribute.

You HAVE to send it to me through PM. I'm sorry, but I'm not accepting guest reviews. I apologise to any guests reading though. This also goes for people who send tributes by reviews.

You MUST fill in every part of the form. If you don't, you'll have less of a chance of being selected.

You can send up to two tributes. Though one must be male and one must be female.

It is first come, first serve. If you submit a tribute too late, I'm sorry.

* * *

Here is the form, it is in the reviews and on my profile.

Name:

Nicknames: (If they have any)

Gender:

Age: (Between 12-18 as usual)

District: (Includes 13 and The Capitol)

Sexuality:

Appearance: (Please make it detailed)

Personality: (Please make it detailed)

Backstory: (Please make it detailed)

Relationships: (Friends, family, enemies)

Strengths: (At least 4)

Weaknesses: (At least 4)

Please rate these out of 10. However,

Strength: (How strong are they)

Intelligence: (How smart are they)

Social Skills: (How sociable are they)

Cognitive Skills: (How good of a detective are they)

Trustworthy: (How trusting would they be other people)

How do they react to the games:

How do they react to murder:

Who would they be friends with:

Who would they be enemies with:

Would they be a leader or a follower:

Do you want them to be a murderer and why:


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